Aloha-The Mayor and Director of Finance are getting ready to sell the Hamakua Lands to meet the budget shortfall.THESE ARE OUR LANDS- OWNED BY THE TAXPAYERS.J Yoshimoto's Resolution 216 to sell the Hamakua Lands, (which will be heard at the council meeting on Wednesday, September 2nd) sets the price at $8.2 million and also allows a sealed bid OR an auction. There are 16 parcels in this sale for a total of 737 acres. They are individually listed on the Resolution on the last page ( see attached)I believe that each of the 17 properties should be appraised separately. They each have unique characteristics that would make some worth more than others, such as proximity to utilities, elevation differences, soil differences. What if a Buyer only wants a few of these properties? What is the next door neighbor just wants to purchase one of the properties? Is this to be an all or nothing sale? I don't believe that the requirement to purchase all of these properties serve taxpayers by getting the best price.A sealed bid does not allow the County to get the best price or allows this to be a transparent process. An open auction is the best way to get the best price and the way to open and above board dealings.The resolution says they will be "returned to service" as property tax yielding land. What are the anticipated yearly property taxes that will be gained for this $8 million?THESE LANDS COULD BE USED FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND FARMING WITH THE REQUIREMENT THAT PART OF THE PRODUCTION FROM THESE LANDS REMAIN ON OUR ISLAND TO FEED OUR FAMILIES.On Bill 132, proposed by Council member Dominic Yagong, which will be heard on Tuesday, September 1 at the Finance Committee in Kona, changes the process of land sales to give the council the right to approve the sale of properties of more than 10 acres. This is a VERY IMPORTANT idea- The public should be informed of ALL sales of publicly owned properties.THIS BILL SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE THE PURCHASE OF PROPERTIES. IN addition to what is stated in this legislation (Bill 132), I believe that the agreements of sale, appraisals, title reports and any other agreements should be a matter of public record and posted on the Internet on the Finance Department's website. We should be informed as to who participated in the bidding process, so we can see that the process was open to everyone.Documents for property acquisition should also be a matter of public record and easily accessible on the Internet.OUR government should serve us in a TRANSPARENT manner, so we can make sure our public officials are serving our best interests.If you would like to comment on this issue to the Council and Mayor , please cut and paste the following in your TO: box for email.dikeda@co.hawaii.hi.us, donishi@co.hawaii.hi.us, enaeole@co.hawaii.hi.us, cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us, counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us, dyagong@co.hawaii.hi.us, genriques@co.hawaii.hi.us, bford@co.hawaii.hi.us, kgreenwell@co.hawaii.hi.us, jyoshimoto@co.hawaii.hi.us, phoffmann@co.hawaii.hi.us,
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